Smoke from Butte Meadows fire eases; wildfires rage in SoCal

Smoke cover from Butte Meadows fire eases in Sacramento

A wind-driven fire burning just south of Butte Meadows had charred more than 7,000 acres as of Thursday afternoon, Cal Fire officials said.

The Panther Fire started Wednesday morning in Tehama County. It is 10 percent contained.

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said the fire is burning in a very remote area of brush and timber and is not threatening any homes.

The fire is moving at a moderate to rapid rate of speed in steep, rugged terrain.

People in Sacramento, and cities such as Marysville and Chico, reported smelling smoke from the fire starting Wednesday evening. By Thursday afternoon, the smoke cover had nearly disappeared.

Still, air officials cautioned that wildfires burning in the region could send harmful smoke into the Valley, especially in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.

A fire in Sonoma County that has burned 125 acres did not grow overnight. Full containment on the Yellow Fire was expected Thursday.

Two smaller fires totaling 165 acres are burning in Glenn and Butte counties.

Berlant said crews were also able to hold the line against one of those fires, the 55-acre Cedar Fire in Butte County, but wind was going to be a factor again on Thursday.

"The continued wind throughout much of the north state is going to help fan these fires," he said.

To the south, wildfire fanned by gusty Santa Ana winds raged along the fringes of Southern California communities on Thursday, forcing evacuation of homes and a university while setting recreational vehicles ablaze.

The blaze erupted during morning rush hour along U.S. 101 in the Camarillo area about 50 miles west of Los Angeles. It was quickly spread by the winds, which also pushed other damaging blazes across the region.

The evacuation orders included the smoke-choked campus of California State University, Channel Islands, attended by about 5,000 students.

Flames quickly moved down slopes toward subdivisions, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. Some 6,500 acres - more than 10 square miles - were charred, with no containment. A cluster of RVs in a parking lot was destroyed as flames moved close to a mobile home park. There were no reports of homes burning.

More than 500 firefighters from multiple agencies with help from aircraft dropping water and retardant worked to protect numerous homes around Camarillo Springs Golf Course and in a section of adjacent Thousand Oaks.

Air tankers had to be grounded in early afternoon because of the winds, which gusted to 50 mph.

The Santa Ana winds sent plumes of smoke and embers over the homes and strawberry fields to the south. At midday, farm sheds burst into flames in a clearing amid rows of crops.

The vegetation-withering dry winds out of the northeast caused humidity levels to plunge from 80 percent to single digits in less than an hour. Temperatures soared into the 90s in Camarillo.

The area is at the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, which abruptly descend to a coastal agricultural plain. It was possible the flames could burn all the way to the Pacific Ocean, about 10 miles from the start point. The California Highway Patrol closed a 10-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway at Point Mugu.

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